The top consumer crime reported to the FTC in 2010 was identity theft. In a recent Norton study, we asked consumers if they would accept $1 million to allow a stranger access to their computer’s data. 71% of the respondents said, “No way!” That’s a great illustration of people’s recognition of the scourge of identity theft, how painful it can be and how costly it can be to repair the damage. (Still, $1 million?)
There are some steps you can take to lessen the possibility of identity theft. One of them is just to make sure you’re using top notch security software on the computers and mobile devices in your family. As we start to see malware created for smartphones or phishing attacks sent by simple text messages, most of us are taking measures to make sure we’re protected. What does “top notch security software mean” anyway?
You may have noticed lots of news stories about hackers attacking the databases of large corporations and stealing customer information. It’s frightening to realize that your private information may be available to cybercriminals but there techniques you can use today to lessen the risk of harm. Make sure you use a good password strategy. For example, if you have unique passwords and a bad guy gets hold of one of your account names and passwords, they won’t be able to crack your other accounts. A good password manager such as Norton’s Identity Safe can make that task a lot easier.
Ok, now consider how many new threats we are seeing that simply didn’t exist a year ago. One example is clickjacking. That’s when you see a risqué image in your social network with a link. You are supposed to click to watch a sexy or shocking video, sometimes featuring a favorite celebrity. If you do click the link, two things will happen. First, the same image and link will spread to your friends and contacts, appearing to come from you. Second, your computer’s browser will be redirected to a dangerous website, perhaps showing a survey or asking for your social network login information. Bad news if you fall for clickjacking. You’ll want to make sure your friends are aware of the problem and don’t click on these infectious fiends.
Not quite as new but still relatively unknown is ransomware – software that infects your computer, prevents applications or functions from working and then requires you to pay money to “ransom” your computer back. You certainly don’t want to hand over your credit card to a cybercriminal, right?
Sometimes the best advice is caution, vigilance, perhaps even mild paranoia. When you are online (and today that might just mean surfing the web on your smart phone or tablet) you’ve got to be cautious about links you click, search results you select or apps you install. Beyond that, you’ve got to use the very best integrated security suite you can. You can’t rely upon single-feature products like plain ol’ antivirus. You need the features found in products like Norton 360 and Norton Internet Security. Make sure you have identity theft protection, password management, spyware protection, firewall, and more. Yes, you can find standalone products; even Norton has basic antivirus available. Nevertheless, the advice I give to my friends and my family is to go with a suite to make sure you are safe, not only from malware like viruses but also from the newest threats that can take on multiple forms.
A note about freeware. Free is not necessarily a bad thing, even at Norton we offer some free tools like Norton Online Family, our parental control software. But when it comes to securing your computer – buyer beware. There are lots of free security solutions out there but most come with a price. It might be ads you have to look at, alerts and prompts to upgrade to the paid version, or worse, you may have fallen for scamware – fake antivirus that sounds real, looks like trusted brands but claims your computer is already infected and insists you download it right away. You’ll find you will also be asked to pay for the “full cleanup” but of course, you’ve given your credit card to a cybercriminal instead of a real, trusted security company. Norton technicians at our Norton Live support service have helped numerous victims of these scams to clean up their computers and set things right. You can avoid those nightmares by picking a trusted brand like Norton for your security needs right at the start.